Humphrey: a cat's life

He was a homeless orphan who clawed his way to the very heart of government and served under three prime ministers.

Despite his rise to the top, Humphrey the Downing Street cat, who wandered into the No 10 home of Margaret Thatcher as a stray in 1989, died in humble obscurity.

His death last week was confirmed by the Cabinet Office worker who took him in when he was supposedly "retired" from active service in 1997.

"He was well looked after in south London by a security guard who still works at the Cabinet Office," said a government spokesman. "He had a long and peaceful retirement."

For years the black and white tom stalked the corridors of power ridding them of unwanted rodents.

With his favourite Whiskas paid for by a Whitehall allowance of £100 a year, he was considered far more successful and economical than official pest controllers.

Two incidents thrust Humphrey, named after the civil servant portrayed by Nigel Hawthorne in the television comedy Yes Minister, into the national conscience and led to him becoming the only cat to be the subject of an official parliamentary question.

The first was the storm created over the great robin massacre which, thanks to his political tenacity and frantic denials by his Cabinet Office minders, he managed to weather.

The second proved more costly. Shortly after Labour came to power in 1997 rumours started circulating that Cherie Blair did not like cats and found Humphrey unhygienic.

Alastair Campbell and the Labour spin doctors whirled into action, arranging a photocall with Humphrey and Cherie in the garden of No 10.

He clung on to his job but the writing was on the wall. He was retired soon after, his Whitehall minders claiming that a kidney problem rendered him unable to continue his work.